Colorado Dominates List of Best Places to Work for Outdoorsy Types

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Colorado-based companies dominated Outside Magazine’sannual list of best places to work Thursday, with companies based in Boulder, Denver, and the Denver suburbs taking three of the top five and five of the top 10 spots.

The list includes some tech companies that are familiar names, like ninth-ranked Gnip and 24th-ranked Rally Software (NYSE: RALY). Others, like second-ranked Zen Planner, aren’t well known outside Colorado.

Outside placed 27 Colorado companies on the list of 100.

Companies in the Mile High State take the rankings pretty seriously, as I relearn every year from the barrage of media releases and tweets from the winners who want to tout their ski trips, rock climbing walls, on-site health clubs, and yoga classes.

Because the list is a pretty big deal to locals, Colorado companies did so well, it was an overcast day—and, ironically perhaps, I’m not the outdoorsy type—I stayed in and condensed all the Colorado companies into one list, below. It compiles the companies and gives their rankings, the location of their headquarters, employee headcount, and a very brief description of what they do.

Be sure to head over to Outside’s slideshow if you want more information. It includes blurbs that describe the benefits and perks and what kind of jobs the companies have open.

Obviously not all the companies are tech companies, at least in the traditional sense. However, a few of the “non tech” companies are apparel or outdoor equipment makers that rely on high tech fabrics, materials, or manufacturing processes. The distinction is a bit arbitrary, and Outside doesn’t categorize the companies by industry.

Also, many of the non-tech companies on the list are looking for user-experience developers, coders, IT managers, and the like.

The data here was compiled by Outside, which worked with the Best Companies Group and the Outdoor Industry Association (which is based in Boulder) to rank and vet the companies.